{"id":715091,"date":"2026-06-04T16:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/715091\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T16:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T16:19:16","slug":"australian-bull-semen-exports-to-china-resume-after-pandemic-pause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/715091\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian bull semen exports to China resume after pandemic pause"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian bull semen is being sent to China after a five year break as demand for premium beef in the People’s Republic grows.<\/p>\n

A total of 24,000 straws of bull semen were sent in April and May this year, marking the first exports of Australian cattle genetics to China since 2021.<\/p>\n

Genetics company ABS Australia secured a major export agreement with China for Wagyu, Jersey and Holstein semen, with the potential for the inclusion of other breeds in the future.<\/p>\n

“[Australia’s] got some of the best Wagyu bulls and Angus bulls available around the world,” business operations manager Bruce Ronalds said.<\/p>\n

“[Breeders in China] are pretty excited to start using them within their herds.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Semen from this Jersey bull has been sent to China. (Supplied: ABS Australia)<\/p>\n

Premium beef for hot pot markets<\/p>\n

ABS China commercial director Snow Wu said local farmers want to improve their productivity and efficiency, as well as the quality of the beef they are producing.<\/p>\n

“We are seeing increasing demand for premium beef products in China, particularly in traditional dining and hot pot markets,” Ms Wu said.<\/p>\n

Ms Wu said China’s dairy herd had increased “from around five million to six million cows” and milk production was up.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bruce Ronalds says Australian bull genetics are highly regarded overseas. (Supplied: ABS Australia)<\/p>\n

She said there was also interest in Australian Wagyu for the breeding of cows with beef bulls.<\/p>\n

“On-farm, using Australian Wagyu sires over Chinese dairy cows allows producers to improve beef quality and profitability while maximising existing dairy herds,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Australia has built a strong reputation for breeding performance and production systems, including environmental benefits and consistency.”<\/p>\n

Mr Ronalds said the “high marbling” of Wagyu beef was a drawcard.<\/p>\n

“The Wagyu product brings that extra marbling on the beef-on-dairy \u2026 and the Chinese market are really looking for that in the Wagyu space,” he said.<\/p>\n

Five-year break ends<\/p>\n

China closed the door on Australian cattle genetics in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Before that, China was Australia’s biggest market for cattle semen and embryos.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chinese officials visited the Total Livestock Genetics export facility last year. (Supplied: ABS Australia)<\/p>\n

The General Administration of Customs China re-accredited the Total Livestock Genetics export facility at Camperdown in south-west Victoria in October last year, paving the way for exports to resume.<\/p>\n

“That’s where we house and collect all our bulls that we export globally,” Mr Ronalds said.<\/p>\n

“We do have some withholding periods before the semen can actually leave and that’s why it took until April to get the first shipment away.”<\/p>\n

The export of cattle semen and embryos is big business for Australian cattle producers.<\/p>\n

Australian government figures show that last year alone 324,357 units of bovine reproductive material was sent overseas.<\/p>\n

The bovine exports sit well ahead of the 22,000 units of sheep genetics sent in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

Rohan Sprunt (second left) supplied Jersey genetics for China export. (Supplied: Fiona Hanks)<\/p>\n

North Victorian Jersey and Holstein breeder Rohan Sprunt provided some of the genetics from his Kaarmona Jersey bull.<\/p>\n

“It’s exciting to see Australian-bred genetics heading into a market like China,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not really an accolade for me, it’s an accolade for the Australian Jersey breed and the work that’s gone into developing efficient, productive cows suited to global production systems.”<\/p>\n

Semen shipped in liquid nitrogen<\/p>\n

The first 10,000 straws of semen left Australia bound for China in April and another 14,000 units departed last week.<\/p>\n

They are stored in liquid nitrogen for the trip.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Warehouse keeper Haitao Liu checks a bull semen shipment in China. (Supplied: ABS Australia)<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to have the right equipment,” Mr Ronalds said.<\/p>\n

“Once the bull’s collected, and it’s gone through a very strict quality assurance program to make sure that we’ll get cows in calf, it’s put down into liquid nitrogen.<\/p>\n

“The sperm is in a straw so we ship it around the world in these cryogenic tanks that hold liquid nitrogen.”<\/p>\n

The new agreement with China will double ABS Australia’s export sales of bull semen in a very competitive market.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of companies around the world wanting to export genetics,” Mr Ronalds said.<\/p>\n

“This will actually more than double our actual exports of both beef and dairy with this China market opening up so we’re pretty excited.”<\/p>\n

More shipments of cattle semen are scheduled to head to China in coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian bull semen is being sent to China after a five year break as demand for premium beef…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,36177,99,11054,13330,2185,127080],"class_list":["post-715091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bulls","tag-business","tag-exports","tag-farming","tag-rural","tag-semen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}